Governance
Question 1: Does the CIO report to the CFO, COO or CEO?
Answer 1: CFO
Question 2: Are there internal groups in the IT department like Infrastructure, Applications, Security etc.?
Answer 2: Client Services (HelpDesk and regional support), Infrastructure Services (Network & System Administration, and Telecom), Business Applications (Applications spanning multiple departments such as: Oracle, Agile, WebCom), Business Process Improvement, and Strategic & Web Development
Question 3: How is IT governed? Does IT work with business managers and the Executive committee to prioritize projects?
Answer 3: There are Executive meetings for BPI (Business Process Improvement) projects. Based on the executive feedback, projects are approved or rejected. In addition, each functional department has an assigned “Portfolio Manager” within IT responsible for relaying the individual needs for each department.
Question 4: What are the pros and cons of IT governance?
Answer 4: PROS – Executive buy-in to the IT projects at conception, transparency into the businesses.
Budget Management
Question 1: Who manages the IT budget?
Answer 1: CIO
Question 2: How is the budget allocated to individual projects? What is the allocation criteria?
Answer 2: Based on feedback from the BPI meetings, IT allocates the required funds.
Question 3: Who makes the decisions on IT projects like determining needs, scoping of time/cost of each project?
Answer 3: The IT managers are responsible for scoping each of the projects within their portfolio.
Outsourcing
Question 1: Are any of the IT functions outsourced? Which ones?
Answer 1: Intranet and SharePoint support are outsourced. Oracle and custom application development is partially outsourced.
Question 2: Were any project/application development outsourced?
Answer 2: Oracle, Agile, SharePoint/EPM (Engineering Project Management) enhancements
Question 3: What are the pros and cons of outsourcing any function or project?
Answer 3:
PROS-Lower cost, ability to rapidly “ramp-up” on talent CONS-transfer of knowledge can be difficult, no “Sonus” knowledge
Implementation of Past Projects
Question 1: Please give a brief overview of successful past IT projects? What were the advantages to the company?
Answer 1:
Oracle 11i implementation-enhanced ERP functionality
Corporate Website refresh-better messaging. Web TimeOff-enhanced visibility into material weakeness around vacation reporting
Question 2: Overview of any IT projects that failed or did not meet expectations?
Answer 2: Initial EPM (Engineering Project Management) deployment.
Question 3: Reasons for failure of the above-mentioned projects?
Answer 3: Poorly identified requirements, Changes in executive team/direction.
Forecast of Future Projects
Question 1: What are the IT projects that are being planned for the next two years?
Answer 1: EPM for Services
Salesforce.com expansion
Denied Party Screening: database lookup to find if a person/entity that we are shipping/exporting to is in a US Government restricted list or not
Entitlement Management: License management for software/hardware sold and management of software upgrades
Question 2: Are these future projects being planned out of necessity or to provide a strategic advantage to the company?
Answer 2: For strategic benefits to the company .
Key Issues
Question 1: What are the 5 most important IT issues facing the company?
Answer 1:
Mass Data Protection Act Compliance
Security
Networking infrastructure
Analytics: Data Analysis Systems integration: One source for key data. Changes made at the source and relayed to other systems
General
Question1: What do you like and dislike the way IT is governed and managed in the organization?
Answer 1:
Like: consistency of information Dislike: Not enough management involvement
Question 1: Does the CIO report to the CFO, COO or CEO?
Answer 1: CFO
Question 2: Are there internal groups in the IT department like Infrastructure, Applications, Security etc.?
Answer 2: Client Services (HelpDesk and regional support), Infrastructure Services (Network & System Administration, and Telecom), Business Applications (Applications spanning multiple departments such as: Oracle, Agile, WebCom), Business Process Improvement, and Strategic & Web Development
Question 3: How is IT governed? Does IT work with business managers and the Executive committee to prioritize projects?
Answer 3: There are Executive meetings for BPI (Business Process Improvement) projects. Based on the executive feedback, projects are approved or rejected. In addition, each functional department has an assigned “Portfolio Manager” within IT responsible for relaying the individual needs for each department.
Question 4: What are the pros and cons of IT governance?
Answer 4: PROS – Executive buy-in to the IT projects at conception, transparency into the businesses.
Budget Management
Question 1: Who manages the IT budget?
Answer 1: CIO
Question 2: How is the budget allocated to individual projects? What is the allocation criteria?
Answer 2: Based on feedback from the BPI meetings, IT allocates the required funds.
Question 3: Who makes the decisions on IT projects like determining needs, scoping of time/cost of each project?
Answer 3: The IT managers are responsible for scoping each of the projects within their portfolio.
Outsourcing
Question 1: Are any of the IT functions outsourced? Which ones?
Answer 1: Intranet and SharePoint support are outsourced. Oracle and custom application development is partially outsourced.
Question 2: Were any project/application development outsourced?
Answer 2: Oracle, Agile, SharePoint/EPM (Engineering Project Management) enhancements
Question 3: What are the pros and cons of outsourcing any function or project?
Answer 3:
PROS-Lower cost, ability to rapidly “ramp-up” on talent
CONS-transfer of knowledge can be difficult, no “Sonus” knowledge
Implementation of Past Projects
Question 1: Please give a brief overview of successful past IT projects? What were the advantages to the company?
Answer 1:
Oracle 11i implementation-enhanced ERP functionality
Corporate Website refresh-better messaging.
Web TimeOff-enhanced visibility into material weakeness around vacation reporting
Question 2: Overview of any IT projects that failed or did not meet expectations?
Answer 2: Initial EPM (Engineering Project Management) deployment.
Question 3: Reasons for failure of the above-mentioned projects?
Answer 3: Poorly identified requirements, Changes in executive team/direction.
Forecast of Future Projects
Question 1: What are the IT projects that are being planned for the next two years?
Answer 1:
EPM for Services
Salesforce.com expansion
Denied Party Screening: database lookup to find if a person/entity that we are shipping/exporting to is in a US Government restricted list or not
Entitlement Management: License management for software/hardware sold and management of software upgrades
Question 2: Are these future projects being planned out of necessity or to provide a strategic advantage to the company?
Answer 2: For strategic benefits to the company .
Key Issues
Question 1: What are the 5 most important IT issues facing the company?
Answer 1:
Mass Data Protection Act Compliance
Security
Networking infrastructure
Analytics: Data Analysis
Systems integration: One source for key data. Changes made at the source and relayed to other systems
General
Question1: What do you like and dislike the way IT is governed and managed in the organization?
Answer 1:
Like: consistency of information
Dislike: Not enough management involvement